Watermelon Diets: Types, Benefits And Risks

The watermelon diet is a dream for those who want to quickly lose those extra pounds, but are not ready to deny themselves goodies (juicy sweet pulp easily replaces them). Diets “built” on watermelon ─ clear and understandable ─ operate on the principle of “eat and lose weight”. Is it really that simple? Mikhail Gavrilov, a psychotherapist, Ph. D., author of a patented technique for correcting eating behavior and weight loss, a member of the Institute of Functional Medicine (IFM, USA), helped us to understand this.

We assume …

… that watermelon is good for you. And indeed it is. It contains folic acid and magnesium. The first has a beneficial effect on fat metabolism, the second ─ helps regulate blood sugar levels (and additionally reduces the risk of gallstones and kidney stones). The watermelon diet not only cleanses the body of toxins and toxins (long live beautiful skin), but also promotes the elimination of cholesterol (this is especially good for people suffering from cardiovascular diseases). And also watermelon "weight loss" is easily tolerated, since it does not allow an acute feeling of deep hunger.

What is it really?

Watermelon is indeed one of the lowest-calorie foods: 100 grams of pulp contains only about 25-45 kcal. The unique properties of the liquid contained in the watermelon help to remove excess water that is formed as a result of the breakdown of fat. Therefore, those who want to lose weight in the summer are quite justified in including it in their diet. Especially watermelon is recommended for hypertensive patients. But for women prone to hypotension, who lose weight and thereby cut the calorie content of their diet, they should not get carried away: watermelon is a diuretic and can cause a sharp decrease in blood pressure.

Training

So you've decided to try the watermelon diet. Pay special attention to the choice of the product. We explain why this is so important. If the watermelon is nitrate, then the bound liquid of its pulp is no longer so remarkably useful. With weight loss, this is especially dangerous, because the body, which does not receive its own, begins to "get" the toxins stored there for years from the fat depots, and the liver is desperately trying to process them. It is definitely not worth loading them with nitrates from the outside, if you do not want to get health problems in the long term after the watermelon detox. Our advice is simple and not as absurd as it seems at first glance: stock up on a nitrate meter.

The permissible norm of nitrates in watermelon is 60 mg per 1 kg!

Commercially grown watermelons often contain double the amount of nitrate allowed, including the watermelons sold in stores today. You can go the other way: in parallel with watermelons, eat foods containing large doses of vitamin C, which is ─ proven! ─ reduces the harmful effects of nitrates and nitrites. Seasonal fruits and vegetables include black currants, bell peppers, cauliflower, greens, and versatile year-round citrus fruits.

First option

Description: one of the most popular watermelon diets is the mono diet. For five to seven days, you only need to eat a watermelon and nothing else (although more, probably, it will not work, because for every 10 kg of your weight per day it is prescribed to eat 1 kg of watermelon). In addition, in addition, you need to drink about 1.5 liters of water per day.

Result: minus 3-5 kg per week.

Nutritionist's comment: of course, you can resort to watermelon days as fasting days, if you are not hypotonic (we talked about this above). But a watermelon diet within a week will simply undermine the metabolism - its speed will decrease due to the lack of proteins in the diet, which are the basis for the synthesis of hormones and enzymes. In addition, with a decrease in the caloric content of the diet below 700 kcal, the activity of the thyroid gland is inhibited, which maintains the balance of metabolic processes. After, switching to the regular menu, you will very quickly gain weight again, and even with a significant increase. Finally, for 7-10 days of the watermelon diet, most of the declared 5-6 kg will be water, not fat, and it is very easy to replenish its reserves (read, "get fat"). Do you still intend to torture yourself?

Second option

Description: Again, a watermelon is taken as a basis, but in this case, two slices of rye bread should be added to each meal. Such a diet is longer - 7-10 days, but it will be much easier to transfer it to those who are used to getting up from the table with a feeling of complete satiety. Here the flip side of the coin is to quit the diet. It is not the easiest one: in the first week after the watermelon detox, protein-carbohydrate nutrition must be strictly observed. It is allowed to eat cereals, egg whites, chicken fillets, cottage cheese, fruits and vegetables. And four hours before bedtime, all this time you need to eat 3-4 pieces of watermelon.

Result: 3-7 kg minutes in 10 days.

Nutritionist Commentary: From a sensible dietary perspective, the option is the same as the first, and here's why. The amount of bread consumed during weight loss ─ with any diet ─ should be kept to a minimum. According to this diet, only bread with 5-6 meals a day will have about 1000 kcal, while watermelon will have an average of 500 kcal. Now keep in mind that weight loss begins on average with a caloric intake of about 1200 kcal and below. This means that you will not be able to lose weight with bread, and removing the bread, we will get mono-diet number 1, the dubious benefits of which have already been found out.

Third option

Description: an option for those who psychologically and physiologically cannot eat only one product for several days. Watermelon does not disappear from the daily diet, but is "diluted" with protein foods and vegetables. The daily rate of watermelon pulp is about 2 kg.

Result: minus 5-6 kg in 10 days.

Nutritionist's comment: The most balanced and reasonable watermelon diet. Note that from proteins in this case, you need to give preference to fish, lean meat and cottage cheese (in the absence of intolerance to dairy products), and from vegetables - green non-starchy (for example, broccoli, green peas, asparagus, cucumbers, celery).